Writer/director Jason Paul Collum passed on the first pics from NOVEMBER SON, the sequel to his obsession-horror movie OCTOBER MOON. The new chiller finds the characters played by original cast members Judith O’Dea, Brinke Stevens, Tina Ona Paukstelis, Darcey Vanderhoef and Ashley J. Anderson caught up in more treachery and terror when two mysterious men (musician Sacha Sacket in his film debut, and Lloyd Pedersen of TV’s UNSOLVED MYSTERIES) enter their lives. “Adding fuel to the blood-spattered fire is [FANGORIA RADIO hostess] Debbie Rochon as Sacket’s mother, hiding a few dark secrets of her family's history, and soap star Robyn Griggs,” Collum tells Fango. “Original stars Sean Michael Lambrecht and Jerod Howard also return.

NOVEMBER SON, currently rolling in Wisconsin, “has been a gruelling shoot,” according to Collum. “Our days have run between 15-17 hours. The script, though physically shorter by over a dozen pages than the first OCTOBER MOON, is much more complicated, and has required more action and more intense dialogue and emotions from the actors. I realized by the end of the first day that we’ll ultimately have to extend the shoot and add on three or four days. I’d rather bring everybody back and allow them the opportunity to give me their best rather than rush through scenes just to get the job done. The dailies we’ve watched so far have proven it’s the right decision. I’m so excited with the footage!

“Plus, all of my lead actors will need a chance to let their bruises heal,” he continues. “Sacha Sacket had to repeatedly hurl himself onto a wood pallet and is black and blue on his hip and arm. Debbie Rochon was getting repeatedly hurt by a ‘collapsable’ knife and not telling anyone until it was really becoming painful. Brinke Stevens had to roll around in a muck-filled pond, and in scrambling for shore she bruised and scraped her arms and legs. Yet none of them complained; they simply wanted to keep going. This is what has always amazed me about actors: They’re willing to do what’s best to get the shot right.”

OCTOBER MOON was as much a drama about its gay antihero’s struggle with his obsession with the protagonist as it was a fright film, and Collum notes, “I had originally decided to go more full-on horror with NOVEMBER SON, because I wanted to appease those who didn’t enjoy OCTOBER MOON or who felt the horror came too late in the story. Then as I wrote it, I discovered it was turning into a slasher film. Situations were becoming both predictable and ridiculous, and that’s not what the original film was about. I realized at some point that the reason I was making a sequel in the first place was because of all the people who’d written me these wonderful letters, letting me know how much OCTOBER MOON had affected them, but here I was focusing, as I typically do, on the negative comments. So why was I trying to appease people who likely wouldn’t wouldn’t watch the sequel?

“I went back to the drawing board and started from scratch,” he continues, “putting the same characters in an all-new situation which follows the same CARRIE-esque narrative structure of the first film—a drama which evolves into a thriller and ends as full-on horror. I want to please those who were happy with it the first time. Horrific elements do come into the story earlier and more often throughout, and there is more bloodshed and makeup effects. Scenarios are much more connected to horror moments, such as when Nancy [Stevens] discovers Corin’s [Lambrecht] coffin floating in her pond, or the beginnings of a bloody massacre in the middle of a crowded restaurant. And I’d love to tell you about the climactic scene, because those who squirmed at the stuff which happened in the basement in the first film are going to be crawling out of their skin with this one. My DP Jason Satterfield [also supervising the FX with Jamie Bilke] and I were trying to maintain composure while Red [Anderson] was getting ‘worked over’ in a pretty sick setup with another character and lots of saliva. And what Emily [O’Dea] does with a corpse…well, it’s pretty foul stuff!”

Collum hopes to premiere the official trailer for NOVEMBER SON at Chicago’s Flashback Weekend Horror & Sci-Fi convention later this month. An official NOVEMBER SON website with complete cast info, pics, trailers and more will soon be available through OCTOBER MOON’s website here. The movie’s release is planned for Summer 2007.

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